Conor O’Shea has criticised World Rugby for an “over-reaction” to his team’s infamous ruck-less tactics against England a year ago, with the Italy head coach accusing the global governing body of unnecessary “tinkering” with the game, and creating a rise in the number of impacts during matches.

O’Shea’s underdog Italians confused and frustrated England at Twickenham last February, by positioning men legally on the English side of the ball after a tackle was made, and it took until the last 11 minutes before two tries by Jack Nowell and one from Ben Te’o took the home team from a precarious 17-15 lead to a win by 36-15.

England head coach Eddie Jones ripped into the Italian ruse after the match, saying “the whole game became a joke”, and immediately predicting World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont, who was present at Twickenham, would “take some action”.

Five months later in July, World Rugby introduced six law variations including one that has created a line of offside through the tackle as soon as another attacking player arrives, making it impossible for defenders to loiter on the “wrong” side as the Italians did.

This and other changes have created greater continuity, but with a concurrent increase in contact between players which has been blamed in some quarters for contributing to a rise in injuries.

Around 50 players are unavailable for this weekend’s Six Nations Championship kick-off, which includes Italy’s rematch with England in Rome on Sunday. “I thought there was an overreaction last year,” said O’Shea.

‘People looked at the five or six times we just played to the rules and did something different. What frustrated me was we’d actually played good rugby in the match and didn’t get the credit for it.’

Conor O’Shea

“People came to Twickenham thinking England would score 100 points. For our team to come out and have the inner strength and belief to put in a performance like that, when everyone was just saying ‘you’re rubbish’, that’s what I thought should have been focused on.”

“Then I thought the clarification to the law, after, was done too hastily. Because it was a law clarification that led to a game with more contact in it now. And it didn’t need to be tinkered with. Because we didn’t do it that much, and you couldn’t do it that often. That’s the fact of it.”

O’Shea gave a flat “no” when asked if he had any similar ploys in mind this week, not that he was likely to reveal them. Meanwhile, Jones has let it be known he wants Six Nations referees to do more to allow attacking mauls to develop.

“We know the battle we will be taking on,” said O’Shea. “If we get the energy at the right times and we ride our luck… that’s what David has to do against Goliath. We’re the ones who will probably put a banana skin under someone’s hopes.”

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